


Reckless But Honest Words Leave My Mouth

by Lilsciencequeen



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, Pain, Season 5 spec, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2018-12-22 05:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11960235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilsciencequeen/pseuds/Lilsciencequeen
Summary: After being stuck in space prison for four months, and with their relationship back to what it once was, FitzSimmons are as happy as they can be. Will things remain this way or will the cosmos once again try to tear them apart?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for checking this one out guys, I hope that you enjoy this one. The title comes from Anger by Sleeping at Last.

It had been four months since they had been taken from the diner, by some faceless organisation. Four months since they had been on Earth, four months since the Framework.

The Framework… It had taken time for everyone to recover from what they had suffered in there, it had taken time, and there were nearly as many steps back as there were forward, but they were getting there, Fitz no longer blaming himself for everything that had happened.

He had come to terms with what happened, and thought there still nightmares, times when guilt still remained in his stomach, twisting it and making him feel ill, he was getting there. He had continued his relationship with Jemma, they had taken things slowly at first, Jemma not wanting to push him when he wasn’t ready. But they were nearly what they once were, the two of them sharing a bed together, and he couldn’t deny it, he missed waking up with Jemma lying there beside him, curled up close to him as though she were scared to lose him.

Most of the time, he awoke before her, and he enjoyed those moments, he really did, just lying there, with Jemma curled next to him, looking so peaceful in her sleep, sometimes with her nose scrunched up and her mouth open.

As for the rest of the time, well they were working for their capturers, doing whatever it was that they were asked to do. But, in the end, they were nothing more than over glorified lab techs, cleaning up once the scientists had left for the day. As much as they hated it, it gave them some more time alone together.

Not that this prison was like a conventional one anyway, outside of work hours, and eating hours, they were allowed to spend time in the lounge or in their bunks, and curfew was not always strictly enforced. But despite how friendly their capturers were acting, it made them all the more suspicious. They had all spent more than enough time with shady government organisations to know that there was probably an alternative motivate at play here.

So they spent weeks trying to work out who they were with, and they were no closer in working it out until one Saturday dinner time when Jemma stared across the canteen at a face she could have sworn that she knew. “Jemma?” Fitz asked, nudging her slightly with his shoulder, and then she blinked, frowning. “Is that Claire?” she asked in response, nodding at who she was looking at.

Fitz squinted at the figure that Jemma was talking about, and reaching up and scratching at his face, he nodded. “Yeah, yeah I think so.”

She must have sensed them staring at her, as she turned and waved at them, before doing a light jog over to them and sliding into a seat opposite them. “So the rumours are true then?” she asked, a wicked smiled on her face. “The infamous FitzSimmons are here?”

Jemma gave a light laugh, shaking her head. “Is that what we’re referred to as now?”

Claire gave a lazy shrug. “Always have been. Even back in the Academy. We were always rooting for you to get together, and now it seems that you have.” She smirked at them. “So, I could ask you how you’ve been, or I could tell you that I could get you out of here.”

The two scientists looked at one another, and then back at Claire, before the three of them leaned in close.

***

“It’s too risky,” May told them, looking between Jemma and Fitz. “We don’t know if she’s working for us, or for _them_.”

A murmur of agreement from everyone in the room, before May spoke again. “I know we all want to leave here, but we’re not going to if someone gets injured.”

“That’s why I’m not going alone,” Jemma said, looking at the older agent. Claire had told the two scientists earlier that day that she could give Jemma details on who they were, and where they were being kept, and using that, they could work out how to get home. As much as Jemma wanted to get home, she knew that there was something suspicious about this, but still… she had to find out. Upon seeing a raised eyebrow from May, she continued. “I want you and Daisy to come, not into the room with me, and we can’t make it obvious that I have someone. Maybe you could stay in the rooms adjacent, come in if anything happens.”

Coulson and May shared a look, a silent conversation flitting between the two of them and eventually, Coulson nodded. “You can go,” he turned back to face Jemma. “May and Daisy will go with you, and the first sign of anything wrong, we’re pulling you out.”

Jemma nodded, understanding. “I’ll meet you in the canteen in half an hour?”

May nodded, and the others filtered out of the room, leaving the two scientists alone in their bunk. “We’re going to be okay, aren’t we?” she asked Fitz and he nodded, cupping her face, and bringing his lips to her.

She sank into the kiss, one that was long, passionate. “I can’t lose you again,” she whispered once they pulled apart, their foreheads resting against each other, their breath mixing in the small space between them.

He ran a hand down her cheek, tracing her features and shook his head. “No,” he told her. “No. You’re not losing me, not again.” She let out a soft noise, a small soft sob. “I promise you Jemma, I won’t let the cosmos separate us, not again.”

She gave a laugh this time, before pulling him in for another kiss.

***

Jemma arrived in the dark room before Claire did, flicking the light on and closing the door behind her. May and Daisy had joined her, hiding in the adjacent rooms and corridors in case something wrong. Despite knowing the other woman, Jemma couldn’t help the nervous hammering of her heart in her chest, the twitching of her fingers. She couldn’t help pacing around the room, and the slight jump that she did when he heard the door open.

“Oh,” she said upon realising that it was only Claire and no one else. But there was something off about her, about this, something that made Jemma more nervous, and not relax her. Claire closed the door, not speaking, and then turned to face Jemma, her face unreadable. “Is everything...” Jemma began to ask but then she saw that Claire was holding something by her side.

A weapon.

Jemma felt her face screw up in confusion. “What?”

Claire gave a heavy sigh and took a step closer to Jemma. “I’m sorry that it had to come to this Jemma, maybe in another world things could have gone differently…”  Her voice was cold, void of any emotion.

“Please,” Jemma all but begged, shaking her head, feeling tears well behind her eyes. She backed up as far as she could, until she felt the cold metal wall behind her. “Please, you don’t have to do this. We were friends… we were friends.”

A single gunshot echoed in the room and a pain shot through Jemma, her entire body on fire. It took her moments to realise what had happened, to take in the fact that she had been shot. Her hands dropped down to her torso, putting pressure on the wound before her legs buckled under her, and she collapsed on the floor. “Why are you doing this?” she asked again, crying now, gasping with the pain. “We were friends.”

Claire holstered her weapon, cocking her head and looking at Jemma. “We were never really friends.”

And she left the room, closing the door behind her, leaving Jemma calling out for help as the world around her started to fade to black.

***

It was a number of hours before he was been allowed to see Jemma. The plan from Claire, in the end, had been a trick. It had all been a trick. And May and Daisy hadn’t even been able to help, stop Jemma from being shot as they had been found unconscious by Coulson after he had checked on them when he hadn’t heard from them.

Jemma had been rushed to medical, having immediate surgery to stem the bleeding. It had been successful and she had been taken to the ICU, still in critical condition.

Fitz hated that it had happened, that she had been shot, that she had suffered, that he had allowed her to go when it was oh so obvious that it had been a trap. But he shook his head, standing outside her room, knowing that regretting what had happened wasn’t going to change anything. So instead, he took a breath, and pushed the door open.

“She’s a beautiful thing, isn’t she?” a voice asked. “I can see why you fell in love with her.”

Fitz froze in the doorway, looking at the figure sitting on the end of the bed, staring at Jemma. At his _father_ sitting there. “You…” was all that he could say, his voice caught in his throat.

Alistair smiled up at him, before standing up and collapsing in the seat next to the bed. He nodded to now vacant space on the bed, as if saying for Fitz to sit there and something about it, even after all these years, scared him. “Aye, son,” Alistair continued, as Fitz sat on the bed, taking Jemma’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Who do you think owns this base?”

“You?” Fitz asked, fear now slowly being replaced by anger. “You did this? You brought us here?”

A nod from his father, and he looked at Jemma, Fitz picking up on what his father was saying with no words being spoken.

“You had her shot?” he asked, his voice bleeding pain as he realised just what his father had done, just how cruel the man was. The man who had made his childhood hell was still inflicting pain. “You hurt her?”

“Aye, I knew that hurting her would be the only way to get you to cooperate.”

Fitz snorted. “And you think I’ll help you, work with you, now that you’ve done this?” He shook his head. “No chance.”

“You think I don’t have the power to turn off her life support? I do. And I will if you don’t cooperate.” He paused for a beat, a slight silence filling the room. “How do you think you’ll live? If you were the reason for her death? How do you think your team will react? They’ve only just forgiven you for the crimes you committed in the Framework, haven’t they?”

Fitz swallowed hard, not sure how to feel about this, but he knew he hated it. At just how helpless and pathetic his father made him feel, even after all these years.

But he knew he had no choice, not really. Go with the man who had made his life a living hell, or let Jemma die. Be responsible for her death. And he wasn’t going to let that happen, not again, not in a hundred million years.

“If I go with you,” he began asking, not even looking at his father but instead at Jemma, and thinking about how peaceful she looked when she was asleep but hating it at the same time, at the breathing tube and all the wires that were helping to keep her alive. He reached up, and pushed a strand of hair out of her face. “Will she live.”

“She will. Might even let her help on a project or two, but she’ll live son. But you have to come with me.”

Fitz closed his eyes, feeling the tears well behind them. “Then I’ll go with you, can I just have a brief moment alone with Jemma please?”

He didn’t see his father nod, but he heard the older man stand up and make his way across the room and then open and close the door.

He let the first tears fall when his father was gone, opening his eyes and looking down at Jemma, at Jemma who had been hurt because of his father. He shook his head, unable to come to terms with what had just happened. He stroked her face with his hand, hating how icy cold her skin was. But she as going to get better, that he was going to ensure. He dipped his head, placing a kiss on her forehead. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered, smiling down at her despite everything, despite the fact that she couldn’t see him. “It’s all going to be okay.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I promise, okay. I promise.”

He placed another kiss on her forehead, and he wanted to stay there, he didn’t want to go with his father but when the door opened again, he knew that he had to leave and casting one last look at Jemma and whispering one confession, he left the room, unsure of what the future may hold for either of them.   


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never actually meant to continue this story, but there was so much I wanted to say, and I had a couple of people help encourage me to write more ;)
> 
> Fitz's asshole of a father makes a major appearance in this one.

“Easy,” a voice reassured, gentle and calm. “Easy, just breathe.”

Jemma groaned, allowing her head to roll to one side. She had tried to open her eyes, but the light was a bright white, and it was blinding her, so she just closed them again, her world becoming one of darkness once again. Her whole body was heavy, filled with pain and there was a throbbing in her abdomen, a dull thudding. There were hands under her back, helping her to sit up, stopping when she cried out. Just lowering her back down on the bed so she was comfortable.

It was all just too much to take in at once, and she wasn't really understanding what was happening, and then suddenly she felt her stomach twist, and before she knew what was going on, she threw up. Thankfully, it had seemed that someone had given her a bin or a bucket, something, and once she was done, there was someone wiping at her face with a damp facecloth.

“Fitz?” she asked, her words slurred and her tongue heavy in her mouth. She hadn’t heard his voice in the noise that was overwhelming her, no matter how hard she tried to pick it out. It was just a racket, all the voices overlapping and hurting her ears. Such a grating noise and it made her insides squirm. “Fitz?” she tried again, and was met with silence. 

“Jemma?”

The voice that spoke her name was female. Not male. Not Scottish. She opened her eyes, slowly, blinking a number of times as the room came into focus, and turned to look at who had spoken. It was May. The older woman was smiling down at sadly, brushing at her hair. “Fitz?” she asked, her gaze flickering around the room, finding out that he wasn’t there. “Where’s Fitz?”

May looked away from her for a moment, casting a glance at someone else in the room. "Where's Fitz?" She tried again, shifting on the bed, and attempting to sit up. Something that was cut short by a shooting pain across her middle, a fiery explosion of pain, and May turned her attention back to her, soothing her as tried to fight the pain, then slowly, May began to explain, told her everything that had occured, told her how Alistair had her shot, how he taken Fitz, that Fitz hadn’t been seen on the base since that day over a fortnight ago. Jemma shook her head, denying what May was saying, tears streaming down her face.

She couldn’t have lost Fitz.

Not again.

Not after everything.

Not when everything was going so well.

“No,” she whispered in between sobs, her body shaking, only adding to the pain in her abdomen. “No. No!”

May continued stroking her hair, the other agents taking a step back, allowing Jemma to cry, allowing her to grieve. “We’re going to get him back,” May told her, voice strong. “We’re going to get him back.”

***

“Your girl’s awake,” his father said, coming into the lab, and passing him a tablet. Fitz looked up from what he was working on, some hideous invention his father had him working on. He didn’t want to work on it but he knew he had to. He couldn’t let him hurt Jemma, not again.

Fitz accepted the device without a word of thanks, staring at the screen. It seemed to be a live feed, somewhat grainy, from the medical ward, from the room where he had last seen her, and she was awake, his father not lying to him like he had done so many times before. She was awake, and from the looks of things, crying, May holding her as her body shook. His heart ached, it yearned for her. Seeing her there, crying and in pain, May’s lips moving silently as she probably reassured her, it hurt and he hated it. Hated that she had been injured. Hated that he couldn't be there. Hated his father for causing all this, causing all this pain and suffering… and for what? So he could get his son to cause more pain and suffering. It just… it wasn’t fair.

“Can I…” Fitz began to ask after a moment, stuttering as he felt his stomach tighten with fear. “Can I see her? Can I talk to her?”

Alistair snorted, as if the young engineer had just asked the most ridiculous of questions. He stared down at his son, sitting in a lab seat and looking like nothing more than a terrified child. Alistair tried to hide his disappointment at his son. At the fact that after all these years, his son was still weak, the man he didn’t want Leopold to become. He tried not to scoff, and pushed back the thoughts of how he should never have left Leopold alone with his mother, how he should have taken him when he walked out all those years ago. “You want to see her? Speak to her?” he settled on instead, focusing his attention back on the matter at hand. Back to Jemma. He had never interacted with the woman before, but he could tell just how much he cared for her, just how much she was his weakness. His son nodded, slowly, as though he were scared to, and in response, Alistair shook his head, unable to believe what his son was asking. “Have you finished the weapon?” He knew that getting his son to do anything would be hard, but with the threat of Jemma being inured... well, he could use that to his advantage.

This time, Fitz shook his head, just as slowly as he had nodded. “Then no. Until you finish it, there will be no contact with Jemma. Once you finish it, I’ll put you in contact with her. And the quicker that you finish this project, the more time you’ll have to talk with her.”

And with that, his father snatched the tablet back of him, removing him from Jemma, the image of her, the reassurance that she was okay, and strode of, leaving the lab, the doors swooshing shut after him.

Fitz sighed, his mind racing with a hundred and one things he wanted to say to his father, a hundred and one things he wanted to come back with. But he couldn’t, he never found the words, no matter how hard that he tried. He just couldn’t find his voice.

And there was something more than that, something more than not being able to find his voice. He was scared. No, he was downright terrified. Even after all these years, his father terrified him. It had been so long since he had seen the man, since he had even properly though about him and now… now he was back. And he was still causing as much pain, and as much hurt as he had when he had been a part of his childhood.

And, at this point in time, there was nothing that Fitz could do to stop it. Not at this point in time. Sighing, and shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the blueprint in front of him, scribbling a bunch of notes down, something that he hoped would fool his father, convince him the weapon was lethal when it was not, and also hoping that, whether they were in space, his team had a plan.

***

Jemma was asleep in the back of the car, her head resting on Daisy’s lap. Daisy sighed, looking down at her friend. It had been a number of days, nearly a week, now since Jemma had woken up and they had escaped the base. It had taken planning, a lot of planning, and most of which had been done whilst Jemma was still comatose. And when she was awake, Jemma had tried to contribute, but it had been hard for her, she was exhausted all the time, sleeping whenever she could. May had told Jemma that it was for the best, that it would help her to heal, and that was the most important thing at the moment.

It had been hard, moving her. She still couldn’t walk, her wound still healing, and they were terrified of tearing her stiches and causing her more pain. Causing more damage, but they knew they had to move her, for them to escape, they had to move her. Jemma had agreed to being moved, knowing that it was the best thing for her, for the team but it was hard. It was so difficult.

And Daisy wasn’t sure she would ever forget the noise that Jemma made when Mack had lifted her out of the bed. It had been awful, hurting her down to her very core, and it had been full of so much pain. But they had gotten back to Earth safely and not caused Jemma further injury. And Daisy, supposed in the end, that was the most important thing.

After another hour of driving, Jemma started to whimper, her eyelids twitching as though she were having a nightmare.

“Hey,” Daisy whispered, her voice gentle, hoping to reassure the other woman. “Hey, Jemma, it’s okay, it’s okay. It’s okay, you’re okay.” She ran her hand up and down Jemma’s arm, hoping that it would reassure her. “Jemma, it’s okay.”

After a while, the whimpering softened, then stopped altogether. Daisy allowed her head to fall back against the headrest. She knew that they would have to drive in circles before going to the safe house Coulson had arranged for them, hopefully throwing whatever shady organisation it was behind this off their trail.

But after a while, she got frustrated. She hated this, all this driving. All she wanted to do was get to the safe house, to get Jemma into a bed. Somewhere comfortable where she could rest, where she could recover, and start working on finding where Fitz was. “How much longer?” she asked, letting out a sigh.

May’s gaze flicked up, meeting the Inhuman’s eyes in the rear-view mirror, and then after a number of seconds, they disappeared, focusing back on the road. After a moment, Coulson spoke. “Half an hour.”

Daisy nodded, chewing on her lip and turned her attention back to Jemma. When she had found out the woman that she loved, the woman that she considered a sister, had been shot, and was in critical condition… her heart had dropped. Coulson found her and May unconscious in the room next to where Jemma was, and had helped her to sit up. He had told her that Jemma had been shot, that she had been rushed into surgery. Daisy had broken down crying, her body shaking with sobs. May blamed herself, saying that she shouldn’t have let Jemma go in alone but Coulson had told her that it was no one’s fault but Alistair’s, that crying and placing blame wouldn’t help but working out what to do next would help. And so, they did. They worked out what to do next, and the n the hours following Jemma being hurt, they found out that Alistair had taken Fitz away. No one knew where, and no one knew why, but they had their suspicions that Jemma had something to do with it. It had been awful, no one really knowing what was happening. But at the moment, Jemma was alive, she was in pain, and she was hurting, but she was alive. And to Daisy, that’s all that mattered.

Finally, half an hour later, they pulled up to some house, outside of whatever rundown town they had just driven through, surrounded by trees and hidden from the outside world. The car pulled to a stop, the humming of the engine silencing before fading altogether.

In her lap, Jemma started to stir, mumbling something under her breath that Daisy couldn’t quite pick up on. So she kept stroking the biochemists hair, hoping that it would help, hoping to reassure her. She knew just how painful an injury Jemma was suffering, but she had had the GH-325. Her injury had healed quickly with relatively little pain. But Jemma didn’t have that. No instead, Jemma had pain and hurt, an injury that was left to heal with little pain killers and no formal medical care and that wasn’t including the fact that she had been moved multiple times, that they had escaped from their prison and back to Earth. And that wasn’t including the fact that Fitz was gone. When Jemma had discovered that Alistair had taken him, she had screamed, she had cried, she had cursed. But they were there for her, reassuring her that it was okay, telling her that it was okay, that they would get him back, and she had believed them. They were a team, they were family after all and they weren’t going to leave one of their own behind.

“Shush,” Daisy whispered. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s going to be all okay.”

Jemma’s eyes opened, eyelids flickering slightly, and she looked up at her. “Sk… Daisy…” her words were slurred, and she seemed highly confused. Elena had run into a shop just over an hour ago, when they had been changing cars and grabbed a pack of painkillers. They were strong, and had helped soothe Jemma, taking away the pain but also had put her slightly out of it.

Daisy smiled down at her friend, who was fighting to keep her eyes open. “It’s okay,” she reassured, smiling down at her. “We’re here. We’re gonna find him.”

Jemma nodded, then closed her eyes, falling back to sleep again. Her chest rose and fell gently, the door opening and closing not even disturbing her. Coulson had exited the car, and was heading towards the house. The front door opened, and light from the hall flooded out, a soft orange glow. Daisy frowned, wondering why there was light coming from the house if they were the first ones there. If it was supposed to be their safe house.

Two figures emerged from the house, and talked to Coulson. “What?” Mack asked, frowning out the window, trying to peer through the darkness to see who Coulson was talking to but it was too dark to pick out any facial features.

And now, one of the figures was walking towards them, through the darkness. A twisting fear made itself known in Daisy’s stomach as they made their way towards the car. And once they got close enough, Daisy recognised the face. It was someone she knew, and she instantly relaxed.

A smirking face appeared at the window, and Mack rolled down the window, as the figure leaned against the car, pocking his head into the car and Daisy stared at them, stared at _him_. Taking him in after not seeing him in so long, after thinking she would never see him again.

“Hunter?” she asked, as he gave them a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for checking out this chapter. It should be about 7 chapters long, and I do intend to have it done before season 5 starting but with a new job and uni starting again, I can't guarantee as many regular updates anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

“Your team have escaped.” The four words from his father caused him to look up, a frown passing over his face. He hadn’t heard anything about that. In fact, he hadn’t heard anything about his team since Jemma had woken up, his father not deeming him ready to know anything else. He was still working on the project, a weapon, and he was so close to finishing it. He was just waiting on the last of the chemicals coming in. It was Jemma that had helped him to finish it.

Or, more specifically, one of the first times he thought she had died. Way back, just a number of months after they had joined the bus, when they were on the mission in Italy, on the train. When she had jumped on the grenade without even a second thought. When it had knocked her out, and he had no idea if she was even alive. He was copying that, using that idea of dendrotoxin, faking death without actually killing anyone.

He knew he wasn’t the Doctor, the man he had been in the Framework. But he didn’t want to be responsible for any more deaths, he didn’t want to take any more lives. Not if he could avoid it.

“They have?” he asked, his voice low. In his weeks here, being with his father, being in the presence of this man, it still scared him, still made him nervous, still made him uncomfortable.

His father nodded, and there was something hidden in his eyes, something that took Fitz a moment to translate. It was hatred, a fiery anger and Fitz swallowed hard. “I didn’t know…”

“But they’re your team.”

“How was I supposed to know?” Fitz snapped back, a sudden anger coming from seemingly nowhere. “I’ve been trapped here! On Earth while they’re who knows where! I couldn’t even… Jemma isn’t supposed to be moved! Not yet anyway!”

His father shook his head, and turned, facing one of his guards and gave a brief nod. The man reached to his holster, pulling out a weapon, and pointed it at a lab tech, shooting him through the head, the man falling dead instantly. A pool of red started to colour the white tiles of the floor, and Fitz couldn’t help the yelp of surprise that escaped him, and brought his hands up to cover his mouth.

His father turned back to face him, and Fitz could see the disapproval oh so evidently written across his face. “If I find out,” he started, his words pure venom as he took a step closer to Fitz, leaning in close to his son, the young engineer shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “That you’ve been communicating with them, that you helped this to happen, then your team will suffer that fate. Except for the woman. The Brit. Jemma.” His face turned up into a snarl. “I know she’s been tortured before, that the Inhuman and Grant hurt her. I also know how much they held back. I wonder… I wonder just how far I can push her before she breaks. Before _you_ break.”

And then he stood back, the snarl fading from his face, the edges of his lips curving up into a wicked smile, something that terrified Fitz even more for some reason. “Clean up that mess, then get back to work.”

***

Mack had helped to carry Jemma into the safe house, Bobbi following after them, listening as May listed everything that had happened to Jemma, all that was wrong. The biochemist was trying hard not to cry, Daisy could see it in her face. Soft tiny whimpers were escaping her, her lips slightly parted.

A soft cry escaped her as Mack set her on the bed, Bobbi pulling up her top to examine her bandages, to examine her wound. It hadn’t reopened, something that everyone was thankful for, but she had to change the bandages. To clean the wound.

Jemma had nodded, understanding. And once Bobbi did remove the bandages, taking in the wound on the smaller woman’s abdomen, at the scar starting to form on already scarred flesh. Bobbi paused for a moment, her hands lingering in the air, staring down at Jemma.

“Is everything okay?” Jemma asked, slight panic in her voice. She hadn’t been able to look down, hadn’t wanted to see what had happened to her, not yet anyway.

Bobbi blinked, her lips curving up in what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Yes, just… I wanted to make sure I do nothing wrong…”

“Bobbi,” Jemma said, her voice soft. “I trust you, okay?”

The blonde nodded, and then gently began cleaning the wound, double checking that everything was okay, that there was nothing wrong with it. And thankfully, it was. It didn’t take long for the wound to be cleaned and for it to be dressed once again.

And that was that. Bobbi instructed that Jemma get bed rest, that she only move when necessarily, the team nodding and agreeing with her.

Everyone was huddled in the room, wanting to make sure that Jemma was okay, wanting to know what was going to happen next. Until Coulson told them that they had to leave once a yawn escaped Jemma, her eyes fluttering.

Jemma tried to protest, shaking her head. Begging them not to make plans without her, begging them not to leave her. Not again. Daisy told her that, as much as she hated it, she had to go back downstairs, that she was running a hack, trying to find where Alistair had taken Fitz.

Hearing his name, hearing just what she was doing, Jemma had nodded, understanding. Understanding that keeping her company wasn’t that important, that finding Fitz, stopping Alistair, that was so much more important.

“I’ll stay.” The two words from Elena echoed around the room, filling the silence that had settled there. Everyone turned to face her. She shrugged lazily with one shoulder, one side of her mouth curving up. “She doesn’t want to be alone, she shouldn’t be alone. You can make the plans, I can catch up later.”

Coulson nodded, and stood out of the doorway, allowing everyone to start to filter out. Daisy stayed behind a moment, lingering, then walked over to the bed where Jemma was lying, her eyes half close, as if she were trying to fight sleep.

She knelt down beside the bed, taking Jemma’s hand in her own, rubbing her fingers over her friend’s knuckles. She smiled at Jemma, the woman retuning it. “I’m gonna find him,” Daisy promised, her voice strong and full of conviction. “I’m gonna find him, and you two are gonna get your happy ending. That cottage in Perthshire you love so much. And…” One of Daisy’s eyebrows rose, her smile turning into a smug grin, as if she were planning something. “And I’m gonna kick his ass for you, I promise.” She lifted Jemma’s hand, and placed a gentle kiss to her knuckles, her lips barely dusting it.

Jemma nodded, her head rusting amongst the sheets and the pillows, and soon, she filed out of the room after everyone else, leaving only her and Elena in the room. The Inhuman took the seat beside the bed, smiling down at Jemma and it was in that moment Jemma realised something. That she didn’t know Elena. Not really. They talked, they were friends, but she wasn’t as close to the woman as she wanted to be.

A silence had formed in the room, settling there, and it was Jemma who broke it first. “He wants to propose to me.” Elena’s eyes widened at the words, and a soft smile crossed Jemma’s lips. “His… His LMD told me. That he wants us to get married. I’ve not asked…” She paused, chewing nervously on the inside of her cheek. “I’ve not asked him yet.”

“You’re nervous?”

A soft nod from Jemma, who was now fighting harder to keep her eyes open. “I don’t… after everything that happened…” She paused again, knowing that Elena knew. That they had just recovered after everything they had suffered.

“You didn’t want to ask him. Where would… where is it going to be”

A sleepy smile crossed Jemma’s face and a happiness flashed in her eyes. “Perthshire. We wanna… we wanna move there. Get a cottage. Maybe have a family one day.”

Elena smiled down at her. She knew she didn’t know the two scientists that well, that she didn’t know them as well as she knew Daisy but she could tell just how much they loved each other, just how much they cared for one another.

She reached over, pushing a lose strand of hair behind Jemma’s ear, her fingers ghosting over Jemma’s cheek. “And it’s going to be beautiful,” Elena whispered, watching as Jemma’s eyes fluttered shut, sleep just about claiming her but not quite.

A silence formed between the two of them, the only sound the sound of the two women breathing and then… “I’m scared.”

The two words from Jemma tore through Elena’s heart. The biochemist… she had always been so strong, so brave, putting up a front and now… now she wasn’t showing this front. She was showing her softer side, the side she never really showed everyone. Showing the pain and the hurt, the burden she had been carrying for so long now.

“I don’t want to sleep,” she continued, and it didn’t take Elena long to work out what had scared Jemma, what was making her want to stay awake.

Nightmares.

She was having nightmares.

Of course she was.

After all she had suffered, having nightmares would be the least of her worries. She didn’t share a room with Jemma, but their prison cells had been close, and she heard Jemma screaming in her sleep more often than not.

“I’ll be here,” Elena whispered, trying to reassure the woman. “I’ll be here when you wake up, whenever you wake up, okay?”

Jemma’s head nodded slightly, and it was only minutes later that she fell asleep, no longer able to fight it.  And soon, she was sleeping, Elena making a silent vow to help get Fitz back, and to help get these two a happy ending.

***

By the time the evening rolled around, he had been taken back to his room. Well, it was more like a cell, having only a bed. There were no windows, and the door was a heavy metal thing that was locked at all times. He was nothing more than a prisoner here. Again.

Forced to do what his father wanted. Again.

But Jemma was alive because of him. Because of what he was doing. Because of him. She hadn’t died. She was alive and she was well and she was seemingly safe. Coulson, the team, they seemed to have escaped from their prison.

And he knew they would come for him.

That they would stop his father.

His father… the man he hadn’t seen since he was ten. The man he didn’t even know that well.  He didn’t even know what his job was. He didn’t even know that as a kid. All of his classmates, they knew what their dads did; teaching, banking, train driver. They all brought them in on careers day and Fitz never did (though his uncle, his mum’s brother, one of the best bakers in the area, had been more than happy to fill in, making the day even better for him).

He didn’t know anything about the man who had made his childhood a living hell. Who had made him feel awful whenever he even got 97% on a test. Who made him feel worthless, as if he were nothing. It had taken years to get over what had happened to him, to actually feel like he was worthy, and now Alistair Fitz had power, had control once more.

And Fitz was terrified. Even though the man only came to see him once a day, if even that, it still caused a twisting in his stomach, a fluttering in his chest.  His father spent most of his time in his office or some meeting room. Doing who knew what. 

Fitz hadn’t been called into the office, or any of the meeting rooms. He had passed them once or twice, and had heard his father shouting at someone, telling them that their best efforts weren’t good enough, that they wouldn’t be able to make S.H.I.E.L.D. pay for what they had done, that they couldn’t make S.H.I.E.L.D. suffer. That he had lost so much to them, and he needed to get his revenge, that he needed to get his revenge on them.

Then it dawned on him, just who his dad was.

He was Hydra.

His father was Hydra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all the support on this one. I'm so glad that you're enjoying this!


	4. Chapter 4

“You found him?” May asked, looking at the information on the computer, at the map that was on the screen, a red blip flashing periodically. Daisy looked over her shoulder at the older woman, and nodded.

“Fitz? Yeah, yeah that’s him.” She sighed, reaching up and scratching at his face. There was a uncertainty about her, something that was no alien to Daisy but it still made May feel uneasy. “I just didn’t know his dad was Hydra.”

The statement was blunt, Daisy’s gaze meeting May’s own. The Inhuman’s was a fiery gaze, as if demanding to know why something had been kept hidden from her. May’s was emotionless, hiding something. “We were protecting him.”

Daisy raised an eyebrow, forcing the older woman to continue, and eventually, May gave in. She knew that there was no point in continuing to hide this information. Daisy knew, and eventually, so would Jemma. “We never knew his father was Hydra, not until S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, but we knew he was involved with the wrong people. We were keeping an eye on him, on the entire family. But when Alistair walked out, we had no more issues. It seemed like he kept his family life and his business life separate.”

“And Fitz?” Daisy asked, wanting to know how someone so cruel, someone so evil could be related to someone like Fitz. Someone who was so kind, selfless. Then she remembered. His mum. Linda Fitz. She had never met the woman, but the way Fitz talked about his mum, the way Jemma talked about her, it was obvious that she was the woman that Fitz got his heart from, the gene that made him so kind.

“We recruited him as soon as we could.” It was Coulson who spoke this time. He had been hiding in the doorway. “We wanted him safe, on our side. He was never… it was clear from the start that he had no idea who his father was. What he was involved with. Multiple tests proved that.”

“And Jemma?” Daisy asked, her gaze flickering between the two senior agents, wondering what they knew that she never. “Was she involved?”

Coulson shook his head. “No, she almost didn’t want to work for us. Multiple people were looking to get her on their team; Roxxon, AIM, NASA.”

“And what won her over in the end?”

A soft laugh from Coulson. “We offered her as much funding as she needed for her research, unlimited. Something the others couldn’t. It won her over.”

Daisy smiled at this. Of course that would win Jemma over. She may not have known the teenage Jemma (she had seen pictures, and heard about their time at the Academy) but knew that of course Jemma could go to the people who could provide her with all the funding she wanted, who would let her run wild with her projects… but Jemma. She had to know this, about Alistair about just who had Fitz. “Who’s going to tell her? That we found him, that we know just who has him?”

A brief silence. Then Coulson spoke. “I will.”

***

His father was Hydra.

The very though almost made him sick.

The man who was his father… he worked for a terrorist organisation. He caused so much pain and death and hurt.

It kept him up all night, tossing and turning. He couldn’t sleep (not that he slept much anyway now), hating the fact that he hadn’t picked up on it earlier. It should have been obvious that his father was Hydra. But yet he hadn’t worked it out.

And now he was after his team.

Again.

They had managed to escape once, and Fitz knew that they could do it again, but with Jemma still recovering, he knew that it would hinder them and he was terrified that she would do something stupid, put herself at risk to save the team, to save him.

And he wasn’t going to lose her. Not again.

Not after all they had been through.

After leaving the Framework, it had taken him months to get to where he was now, happy, having recovered from all that he had suffered, having finally come to terms with all that he had been subjected to.

They had been sharing a bed, had been having tender, loving moments.  They had been happy, they had been what they once were, and more.

And he wanted to propose to her. He had been planning on doing it. There was due to be a meteor shower the day after Jemma had been shot, due to pass by the window of the observation deck. He was going to propose to her, tell her that there was no one else that he wanted to spend his life with, tell her that he wanted to grow old with her.

That he loved her.

Shaking his head, and sitting up, he rubbed at his face, vowing to himself that he was going to get that happy ending. That they both were.

The cosmos wasn’t going to separate them, not this time.

The creaking open of his cell door alerted him to the fact that it was time for him to get something to eat, whatever measly breakfast his father would provide. Once it did open, he looked up, expecting to see some guard, clad in black but today that wasn’t the case.

His father was standing there, his suit immaculate as usual, his face blank. Fitz found himself shifting uncomfortable as his father stepped into the room, as though he wanted to say something to Fitz. “Your weapon.”

Fitz swallowed. He had been able to complete it yesterday, faking it so convincingly that no one in the lab had known any better but handing it to his father, it had been terrifying. He knew that sooner or later; his father would work out what he had done. He just hoped that it would be later.

“It’s convincing. Fakes death well enough but it’s not what I wanted. It’s good though. Not useful to me, but it’s’ good.”

Fitz swallowed hard again, taking in what his father was saying, understanding that for the first time in his life his father was praising him, if in a somewhat roundabout way. And despite how much he had craved it when he was younger, despite how many years he had spent yearning for it, it wasn’t what he had expected. It felt wrong, accepting praise from someone so evil.

It wasn’t what he had wanted.

A heavy sigh from his father as his eye roamed up and down Fitz, when he didn’t reply, taking in everything about him. “I suppose you’ve worked out who I am? Who I worked for?”

Fitz nodded, and he replied moments later, his voice low. “You’re Hydra.”

His father didn’t look angry, didn’t look furious that his son had worked out his secret. In fact, he looked almost disappointed. “Aye son, I am.”

***

Jemma had pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed. It had hurt moving but she couldn’t lie down, not any longer. She stared at Coulson, taking in his words, taking in what he had just told her.

“You found him?” she asked, all but breathing the words.

The older man nodded, the edges of his lips curving up into a smile but there was a sadness to it. “We have.”

“Sir,” Jemma cut in, knowing that he was hiding something, knowing that he was going to say something that would destroy her mood. “What…”

“We’ve… we’ve always known this information. But we kept it hidden, from him. From you. It was for protection reasons…”

The pounding of her heart nearly drowned out his words but she heard them, faint and distant. “His father is Hydra.”

“Hydra?” Jemma asked, unable to believe that Coulson was saying. She had known that Alistair was a wicked man, but Hydra… she hadn’t thought of that. It had never come to her but it made so much sense. And she hated herself, berated herself for not picking up on that sooner. “He’s Hydra?”

Her heart was thundering in her chest, pounding so loudly that it was now drowning out Coulson’s words completely, what he was saying, her vision blurring in front of her. He couldn’t… He couldn’t be near Alistair; the man was dangerous. Extremely dangerous. He had had her shot for God’s sake. And he was Hydra… and he had Fitz.

Fitz, who was only recovering from what AIDA had forced him to suffer.

Fitz, who was still scared of inventing, scared that what he had created for good would be used for evil once again.

Fitz, who was the most kind, caring person that she knew, being hurt like this…

She couldn’t let it happen, couldn’t continue letting it happen, not again.

“Simmons. Jemma, Jemma, breathe.”

 She almost missed Coulson’s words, faint and distant but it was his hands on her shoulders that grounded her, helped to clear the fog from her mind. “Just breathe,” he told her, calm and reassuring. “In, and out. In, and out. In, and out.”

With some help, Jemma managed to settle her breathing once again, and reached up. She wiped her tears away on the sleeve of her hoodie, _Fitz’s_ hoodie. Daisy had managed to grab it for her before they left the space station.

“We know where he is,” Coulson said, obviously repeating the words. “And we’re getting a team together, working out a plan to rescue him. We’re going to get him Jemma. We’re going to get him, and we’re going to stop Alistair, okay?”

Jemma nodded, feeling a new-found determination flow through her vein. They knew where he was. They had a team, a family, that were more than capable of putting a stop to Alistair, and even though Jemma knew she wouldn’t be able to go out into the field, she wasn’t going to let the cosmos tear her and Fitz apart.

Not again.

They were going to get their happy ending.

Of that, she was sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After the season five news today, I'm more than excited for it and I just wanna get this finished before then. Thanks for your support, I hope you enjoyed this one!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some warnings in this chapter for references to abuse.

Once his father knew that he knew, things went from weird for Fitz, to even weirder. He had expected his father to be angry, furious. For him to lose his temper like he had when Fitz had been seven and had found out that his mum had gotten him tickets to Edinburgh for the weekend for his birthday, including a _Keeper Experience_ for Edinburgh Zoo, and a chance to see the monkey exhibits up close. He hadn’t meant to find out. It had been an accident. But his father had refused to hear that. Refused to hear that Fitz had overheard his grandmother on the phone to his mother, when he had been staying at her house overnight and had left his bed for a simple glass of water. His grandmother had hung up the phone as soon as she had heard footsteps and had asked him had he heard anything, and he had shaken his head, not wanting to let her know that he had in fact heard.

When he had gotten the tickets, he had done his best to act surprised, done his best to act like he didn’t know he had gotten them, and no one had said anything about it until the weekend away. It had just been him and his mother, the two of them enjoying a rare weekend away from his father. The day had been amazing, one of his best birthdays ever, but that night, when the two of them had went out for dinner, his mum had asked him did he know, and he had nodded. Unable to keep the secret any longer, feeling guilty that he had known, he had told her that he had known everything, that he had overheard his grandmother that night on the phone, all those months ago now.

His mum, she hadn’t been mad, hadn’t been angry, not at all. His father, on the other hand, that had been a different story. He had found out, somehow but like he always did, and had called the young boy down, demanding to know why he had ruined his surprise, why he had spoilt it for himself and ruined what his mum had tried to do for him, why he had let her down. It had been such an expensive trip and they had both worked so hard to get it, to allow him to experience it, and in the end, he had ruined everything.

But now… now his father wasn’t like that. Yes, there was initial disappointment that it had taken so long for Fitz to find out, for him to work out that he was Hydra but now, only a handful of days later, his father was leading him through the base, a few footsteps in front of him, talking but the words not quite reaching Fitz.

His mind was elsewhere, his thoughts racing between one thing and another. He was wondering if S.H.I.E.L.D. knew that Alistair was Hydra, involved in one of the most dangerous organisations in the world, if that had been part of the reason why they had recruited him, and why they had done so when he was so young. He wondered just how deep this went, just how many of his family were involved in this.

He wondered if Jemma knew, if Coulson had told her or if Daisy had managed to find out. If they even knew where he was, just what was happening to him. He wondered if they were planning some rescue mission, something were someone could potentially get hurt.

But mainly, he wondered about Jemma. Wondered if she was okay, if she were recovering. If she was safe and well.

Fitz was so lost in thought about her that he almost missed his father stopping suddenly at the end of the corridor, nearly walking into him as result. But, thankfully, he caught on in time, and managed to stop in time.

“I wanted to show you this son,” Alistair explained, standing in front of a set of double doors. His lips were curved up slightly, and there was something about it that made Fitz feel so uncomfortable, his stomach twisting and making him want to throw up.

“Show me what?” Fitz asked, watching as his father pushed open the doors, stepping forward once again. Fitz remained frozen staring into the room that his father now stood in.

“This,” Alistair told him. “The one thing that I wanted to give you your whole life. Your future.”

***

 Jemma was sat up in bed, propped up against a mountain of pillows. It had been a number of days now since Daisy had worked out where Fitz was being kept captive. They had made a plan for how to rescue him; May, Coulson, Daisy, Elena and Bobbi were going to go in and rescue him whilst Mack, Hunter and Jemma where going to stay at the safe house and run communications from there.

“There you go,” Daisy said, passing Jemma a mug of tea, a smile crossing the Brits face as she accepted the mug with thanks. “Just think… in a few hours, Fitz will be back.”

Jemma’s lips curved up even more, a contagious smile spreading across her face and there was a hopeful twinkle in her eyes. “I know,” she replied, sighing and brining the mug up to her lips, taking a sip. “I just… I want…”

“I know,” Daisy said, reaching over and placing a reassuring hand on Jemma’s arm. “And I am getting him back, I promise you.”

“I know,” Jemma said this time. “I know that you will. I just… I miss him.”

“But you won’t have long now,” came a voice from the door. Hunter. He was leaning against the doorframe, his trademark smirk plastered over his face. “And maybe this time you’ll have a chance to make the relationship more than official.”

Jemma just shook her head at his words, a blush creeping across her face. She had told everyone about wanting to marry Fitz, about his LMD telling her that he wanted to propose to her. About her wanting to marry him. Everyone had expected it, even Mack knew about the engineer’s plans, but something about it, it still made her nervous, somewhat anxious. As if she were a teenager, once again experiencing her first love.

But it was with Fitz this time, her best friend, the most important person in her Universe.

And she was always going to be with him, no matter what.

“I have to…” Daisy began, her voice cutting through the silence that had formed. Jemma nodded, understanding. She knew that Daisy had to go now, that the team was about to leave.

“It’s okay,” Jemma told her, hoping to convey so much more than just two simple words. “It’s okay.”

Daisy nodded, standing up. She smiled down at Jemma once more. “I promise,” she said again, as if trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince Jemma. “I promise I’ll get him back.”

“I know,” Jemma replied. “I know you will.”

And with that, Daisy forced herself from the room, closing the door behind her as Hunter slid into the room, taking the seat that Daisy had once occupied. He reached forward, taking the laptop that Jemma had left on the bed beside her, keying in a few commands.

“Where’s Mack?” Jemma asked after a moment, after taking another sip of tea. It was nice, it was good. But it wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t like how Fitz made it. “Is he still with Elena?”

“What? Oh yeah, yeah he is. The two of them wanted some time alone. Suppose he’ll be up soon,” Hunter explained, tilting the lid of the laptop closer to him so that it wasn’t blocking his view of Jemma. And he took her in for a moment, staring at her and taking in her features. She looked much better than she had when Mack had carried her into the house, still whimpering in pain, pale and sweaty.

She had regained the colour in her cheeks, the bags under her eyes fading. It was taking time for her to recover, Jemma having been denied crucial medical care in the early stages of her recovery. But she was recovering, she was getting there.

“I wanted to thank you,” she continued, saying something that he wasn’t expecting. His eyes widened, and he frowned, wondering what she was talking about. “For helping me,” she explained upon seeing his confusion. “You, Bobbi, you didn’t have to help me, didn’t have to take us in.”

“’Course we did,” Hunter replied, knowing that Jemma was probably feeling guilty about this. About everything everyone was doing for her. He didn’t know her as well as he did Fitz, as well he did even Daisy. But he knew enough about her, having picked up on her traits, having heard how the other talked about her. About how she hated being the centre of attention like this, how she hated everyone fussing and crowding around her. She had been like that after Trip’s death, after Will’s death. After she came back from Maveth. “We’re your friends Jemma, we weren’t going to leave you to suffer. Now,” he said, a wicked glint in his eyes as he heard Mack’s heavy footsteps echo up the stairs. “Let’s get our Fitz back.”

***

“My future?” Fitz asked, choking on the words as they escaped him, staring at his father who was now further in the room. He took a tentative step forward into it, and saw that it was simply a massive meeting room, the tentacles of the logo emblazoned on the wall in a highly polished metal.

Alistair nodded. “Aye son, I wanted to give you all this. The best chance in life, the life that you deserved, not the one that your mother had planned for you.”

“What?” Fitz began to ask, still not getting at what his father was hinting, what his father was trying to say.

Alistair sighed, the somewhat disturbing enthusiasm of showing Fitz all of this now fading, the man who he truly was, the man Fitz had known him as growing up once again making an appearance. “This here, it’s what I wanted for you son, it’s what I always wanted for you son. A chance to do well in life, a chance to have everything you wanted and more. And you would have had it…”

“But why don’t I?” Fitz pushed, knowing that what he was doing was stupid, that what he was doing was reckless, but he couldn’t help himself. He had discovered a strength that he didn’t know was in him, courage that he didn’t know existed. Maybe it was hearing what his father was saying, hearing how his father had wanted him to become like him, a cruel ruthless person, someone who couldn’t even be described as a man. Maybe it was because he knew his team, his friends, his _family_ had escaped the base, that they had went dark for all this time now which meant they were working on rescuing him, that soon they would be able to get to him, to free him from this. “Why don’t I have the life that you so wanted me to have?”

“S.H.I.E.L.D.” The one word from his father was said with such bitterness, such resentment. “They got suspicious, wondered what I was up too. I couldn’t risk being arrested, taken into their custody and disappearing for the rest of my life, so I ran, thinking that it would be for the best, that one day I could come back for you and give you your birth right but they got their hands on you before I could get you back, they took you and your mother into their protection. Ruined everything I had worked towards.”

“So that’s why you spent the whole of my childhood shouting at me,” Fitz said, the words a statement, not a question.

“I was trying to make you good enough, someone who I would be proud of, the man who could inherit my life’s work…”

“It was abuse!” The three words escaped him without Fitz really thinking about it. It came as a shock to both father and son. But it was Fitz who recovered first. “I was… I was terrified of you, thinking I was never good enough, thinking I was a disappointment, a failure. It was only after you left that I was happy, that I was truly happy. You were never a father.”

Alistair stared at him, and he looked as though he were about to say something when there was a sudden explosion, the whole base shaking. Dust rained down from the ceiling and the two men stared at each other, then…

“Stay here,” Alistair grumbled, and even though he was trying to hide it, Fitz could tell that he was scared. Then he turned to the guards, standing beside him. “Make him stay here,” he commanded them, and then stormed out of the room, leaving Fitz alone.

Time passed, Fitz not knowing how much time passing. Alistair had locked the doors behind him, making sure that Fitz couldn’t do anything. The two guards didn’t seem to know what was happening either, the only things known were the sounds of shouting, the occasional explosion sending dust raining down.

More time passed, and still, no one knew what was happening, what was going on, until the shouts came again, this time from just down the corridor, outside of the doors. The two guards shot an anxious glance at one another, not the fearless protectors his father had thought them to be, and after one more scream, one gestured with his thumb, showing Fitz exactly where to go. He didn’t object, or complain at this, just obeyed and watched as they raised their weapons, pointing them at the door, but in the end, it didn’t work.

It was never going to work.

The doors flew open, one of them even flying of the hinges and landing in a crumbled mess in the corner, and before even two shots could be fired, the two guards flew back, the both of them this time lying in a crumbled heap against the far wall.

Fitz knew what was happening, of course he did.

He also knew who was standing there, just who did this, but it wasn’t until the dust had settled that he saw them for the first time in so long now.

“Daisy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slight delay in posting this chapter but I do have the next two drafted out and am hoping to post in the next couple of weeks. Thanks so much for all the support on this, I'm so glad you're enjoying it.


	6. Chapter 6

“Daisy.”

The word left his lips as nothing more than a whisper, soft and gentle and for a moment Daisy remained frozen, just staring at him as he stood there in the meeting room, the glint of the Hydra symbol ominous behind him.

And then she ran, taking a number of steps towards him, crossing the room in nothing more than a few of them, and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in for a hug. It took Fitz a moment to realise what was happening, to comprehend just what Daisy was doing, and then he was returning the hug, allowing himself to sink into the embrace of a friend, a warm welcome gesture that he hadn’t known in so many weeks.

“You’re okay,” Daisy whispered, whether informing him that he was indeed okay, on the outside at least, or reassuring herself that he was okay, that he was alive and well and there in front of her. “You’re okay.”

He laughed, and shook his head. “Yeah, I’m okay.” He tried to adjust himself in her arms, Daisy’s hug slightly crushing him, but then she pulled back, taking everything about him in. “I’m fine,” he told her again, this time with more conviction. “I promise.”

“Good,” she told him, trying to make a joke out of the matter. “Cause I wouldn’t have went back to the house if you weren’t. I promised Jemma I would bring you back. And I couldn’t…”

“Jemma,” he breathed, interrupting her, the one word triggering so many thoughts at once, sending signals firing through every synapse. “Is she…”

“She’s fine,” Daisy reassured him, her tone now serious and full of conviction. She met his eyes and he could tell that she wasn’t lying, that she was telling the truth. That Jemma was out there, that she was safe and she was alive and that she was waiting for them to come home, waiting for _him_ to come home. To come back to her. “She’s fine. She’s still… she’s still recovering but she’s fine. Bobbi has said she’s going to make a full recovery.”

At the mention of the ex-agent’s name, Fitz froze, his thoughts grinding to a halt in his mind. Confusion made itself evident across his face. “Bobbi? I thought…”

“Coulson,” Daisy began to explain as she turned on her heel and begin to leave the room, making her way up the corridor. “He contacted them. Turns out since S.H.I.E.L.D. became legitimate again, they can contact us, that they’re not disavowed anymore. It took a few strings being pulled… And Talbot owed us a favour.” She cast a glance over her shoulder at the engineer who was keeping pace only a few steps behind her. “They’re dealing with the rest,” she continued, turning left around a corner and side stepping an unconscious guard. “Bobbi, Coulson, Elena. May. I’m… I told them that I was gonna leave with you as soon as I got you.”

“Thank you,” Fitz told her, the words being mumbled more than anything else. His mind was elsewhere, thinking of things to say to Jemma, thinking of all that he could tell her, all that he needed to apologise for. He knew now, more than he had previously known, that the Framework _hadn’t_ been his fault. That everything that had been done, it hadn’t been committed by him. That he hadn’t hurt all those people, hadn’t pulled the trigger. He had been brainwashed, manipulated into doing that. Forced by AIDA. Forced to do her bidding because she couldn’t do it herself. Forced to carry out her plans because of the Darkhold and the twisted plans it had put into her mind.

He wasn’t that person.

The man he had been in the Framework.

Being here these past few weeks, it had taught him that. And in some long-convoluted way, being here had reassured him of that.

It had showed him that he had a choice. That he wasn’t evil. That he didn’t have to create things that could kill, that could cause pain.

That he was still Leopold James Fitz, the pasty engineer that Jemma had fallen in love with all those years ago at the Academy now. That she was still in love with today.

And now, now he was going to get back to her. Back to the woman he loved, the most important person in his universe.

His best friend.

And at the thought, he couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face.

***

It took him and Daisy over three hours to get back to the safe house, even with Daisy going faster than she technically should have been. With every passing minute, every mile that they drove, Fitz got more and more agitated, more and more restless. All he wanted to do was get back to Jemma, just to be there with her.

To make sure that she was okay. Not that he didn’t trust Daisy or anything but he just wanted to see Jemma, to take her in with his own two eyes, to really see that she was okay.

He knew that she was strong, that she was a fighter, that she had survived so much in recent years, but being shot… it still hurt to know that it had happened, that his own father had done it just to get to him, but…

She had survived like she had before. Like she would again.

Like she would always do.

He had never met anyone stronger than her.

And now, after all these weeks, he was so close to getting back to her, the only thing that he wanted. And once they pulled into what could be classed as the driveway, Fitz was flinging the door open, having already unbuckled his seatbelt and he was already jumping out of the car when Daisy pulled it to a stop.

He ran up the steps to the house, flinging open the door and hurrying up the stairs, ignoring both Hunter and Mack calling after him because at that moment, they weren’t important to him, they were the last things on his mind.

There was only one thing on his mind.

One person on his mind.

“ _Jemma_.”

The word escaped him when he pushed open the door to her room, a breath, and she looked up at him, her eyes lighting up when she saw him. “Fitz,” she whispered back, as if she were unable to believe that he was standing there.

He made his way into the room, and sat on the bed beside her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into a hug but being careful at the same so as not to cause her anymore pain.

Her arms instantly went around his neck, pulling him in as close to her as possible, but to her it still wasn’t close enough to him. She buried her head in his shoulder, taking in his scent, something that she hadn’t smelt in so long now. It was no longer the scent that she had gotten used, something that she couldn’t describe as there were simply no words for it but it was the scent that she knew, that was just Fitz through and through but he was there, and that’s all that mattered.

And after only a few seconds, she shed the first tears, crying into his shoulder. Tears of pure relief stained his shirt as her body shook with sobs and she ignored the slight throbbing in her abdomen because at that moment, that wasn’t important. Fitz was.

“Hey,” he tried to reassure but his voice was breaking and Jemma just knew that he was crying to, that tears would be making their way down his dust covered face. “I’m here, I’m safe.”

She nodded into his shoulder, holding on tighter as he continued.

“I’m here, and I’m not going to let you go, not again.”

And at this point that Jemma lifted her head up from his shoulder and tilted it in his direction, allowing her lips to come to dance over his. It took him only a fraction of a second to react to what was going on, her lips dancing over his, and he deepened the kiss. It was a slow tender kiss, full of hope, full of promise, full of love.  And Jemma never wanted it to end, she wanted to remain like that forever, trapped in this one moment with Fitz, the one person that she loved the most.

Eventually though, much to the disappointment of them both, Fitz had to pull away, needing to take a breath. And he didn’t go straight back to kissing her, no, he spent a moment taking her in, cupping her face and using his thumb to caress his face.

Something that Jemma more than enjoyed. His skin wasn’t the softest, it had been hardened and was calloused, a result of years of working as an engineer, but it was something that just made him all the more special, all the more better.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered to him, knowing that no one in the house could possibly hear her, knowing that everyone was allowing them to have this moment but still, she wanted it to be just them, the two of them and no one more.

“I’ve missed you too, and I’m so sorry…”

“You don’t have to apologise, it wasn’t… it wasn’t your fault Fitz. You’re not your father, you’re not to blame for his actions.”

“I know,” he sighed, taking in a breath as he tried to compose his thoughts. “Being apart from you, not knowing if you were alive, where you were… it hurt… It hurt so much and I never want to have to experience that again… but being with my father… it taught me something….”

“Fitz?”

“It showed me that I wasn’t that man, who I had been in the Framework. It _proved_ to me that I wasn’t the Doctor, that I do have a choice, that I don’t have to hurt, to kill. It showed me that I was still that pasty handsome…”

“Engineer that I fell in love with all those years ago,” Jemma finished for him. “The man that I love, the man that I want to marry.”

“Marry?” Fitz asked. He wasn’t sure how she knew that information, but it seemed she did. Maybe Mack or someone had told her, but she seemed to be confirmed that she did want a future with him, a life with him. “You want to marry me?”

“Ugh Fitz,” she complained, her tone one of mock annoyance. “Who else would I marry here? Hunter? Of course I want to marry you, of course I want a life with you, a future. Perthshire, and maybe one day, a family. I want all of that and more… with _you_. No one else. You.”

“I don’t have a ring…” he stuttered, coming to terms with what she had just said. “Mack… he has it…”

“That doesn’t matter,” Jemma reassured him. “I just…”

“I’ll marry you Jemma Anne Simmons, if you’ll have me?”

“Of course I’ll marry you,” she whispered back to him, cupping his cheek with one of hands, smiling at him, her eyes full of such wonder, such love and so where his, the blue twinkling in the dim light of the room.

“I love you,” he whispered, leaning in once again to kiss her, and he couldn’t help but smile as he did so. Because he knew now that the worst was behind them, that the hell they had suffered… it was done, and the cosmos were going to give them their happy ending, something that they deserved.

And he was more than looking forward to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just the epilogue left. Thanks so much for all the support, all the love and comments and kudos on this, it just means so much and I'm so glad that you enjoyed it!


	7. Epilogue

The sun broke in through the window, lighting up the bedroom, and causing Fitz to stir. He had never been an early riser, preferring to get as much sleep as he could get but now… now he didn’t mind the early mornings. Not if it meant that he could get a glimpse of his wife, still sleeping, and at peace.

It had been nearly two years since they had been reunited after his father had kidnapped him, and just over a year since they had married. They had managed to get married in the spring, just a few months after their reunion. They hadn’t expected it to happen that quickly but their team and family had all chipped in, ensuring that the wedding had happened sooner rather than later, saying that they deserved it after all they went through.

It had been a beautiful, but somewhat simple affair, all of their friends and family with them. Jemma had looked simply magnificent in her dress, one of white with laced sleeves and he couldn’t help but cry when he saw her walking up the aisle. She had told him once she had reached him that he was going to make her cry, and ruin her makeup, something that May wouldn’t be happy with, not after she had spent so long perfecting it.

The ceremony had gone well, extremely well. The two of them had written their own vows, words that left not a dry eye in the hall of the manor they were renting. Pictures had been taken in the grounds, full of life as summer came to Scotland. The evening do had occurred outside, Jemma and Fitz having their first (official) dance as husband and wife under the light of a hundred thousand stars.

It had been, to put it simply, a perfect day.

After the wedding, they had escaped to the Seychelles together, spending more than a month there, just enjoying the place they had wanted to get to for so long now, the peace and each other’s company.

And then they settled down in Perthshire, settling into marital bliss, a domestic lifestyle, better than either of them thought they would. They had left S.H.I.E.L.D., deciding that it was for the best. They still consulted on some projects, but otherwise, found different jobs; Fitz starting up his own company, one that dealt with fixing all manner of electronics and technical gadgets, and Jemma had taken a job in the local nursery, slowly becoming everyone’s favourite teacher. Not that she had been teaching in the past few weeks.

It was in March, just a handful of weeks before their first wedding anniversary that Jemma had found out she was pregnant, that she and Fitz were due to have their first child sometime during the winter. It had been a surprise; they hadn’t expected it to happen that soon or quickly, they had expected it to take longer but they were both ecstatic, overjoyed.

That said, there had been a number of worries: Jemma worrying that she wasn’t going to have everything ready, that she wasn’t going to be able to be a mother, and Fitz was terrified that he was going to be like his father, but they had sat down together one night, each with a mug of tea, and discussed all that was on their minds. Jemma reassured her husband that he wasn’t like his father, that he wouldn’t be like the man who had made his childhood a hell. He had done the same, telling her that they had plenty of time to get ready, that she would be the best mother that anyone could have, and she did win _Most Prepared_ during their Academy graduation.

That conversation, that night, it had been a number of months ago, and now Jemma was curled up in the bed next to him, still in a somewhat deep slumber. The sun was lighting up around her, casting rays around her, making her look even more like a goddess.

He knew that he should wake her up, so that the two of them could start getting ready but he couldn’t, not just yet so he allowed her to have another ten minutes before gently whispering her name, pressing a kiss to her forehead. The simple gesture caused her eyelids to flutter and she yawned before coming back to the waking word and smiling at him. “Morning.”

“Hi,” he smiled down at her.

“Hi,” she replied to him, her eyes twinkling. Then she snuggled back down on the bed once again, her eyes threatening to flutter shut.

“You not getting up?” he asked her, pressing another kiss to her forehead, hoping that world wake her up but at this point it didn’t seem like it was.

She shook her head, making a noise of disagreement, soft and coming from the back of her throat. She forced her head in against his shoulder and he couldn’t help but laugh. “C’mon Jems, what about Bobbi and Hunter’s engagement brunch?”

She groaned at the thought of it, not wanting to move, being more content snuggled up to him in bed. “Tired,” she complained.

“You seemed so excited about it the other day, you even bought that new outfit.” He was trying, he really was, wanting to get her out of bed now rather than later so she that she had enough time to get ready, and so she wouldn’t get upset. But at this point in time, it seemed that this would not be the case.

“Were you up all night because your daughter thought it would be fun to just crush your bladder?” Her words were nothing more than a mumble, spoken into his chest.

“No,” he whispered to her, his fingers trailing down the side of her face, gently caressing her. “No, I wasn’t.”

“Just five more minutes. Please?”

Fitz waited a moment, before shifting in the bed together so that they were in a more comfortable position, multiple thoughts racing though mind. Thoughts of how they had been separated, separated so many times and in so many ways. How he had said the cosmos had been against them, and how they constantly overcame the challenges. At just how much they had survived.

Thoughts of what was to come. Of the family they were to have.

Of a life with Jemma.

So he closed his eyes, and wrapped his arm around her, holding her close. “Yeah, five more minutes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this is the final chapter. Thank you to everyone who supported this, it was never meant to be a multi chapter but I am so glad I continued it. You guys are amazing <3

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so so so sorry!


End file.
